Why a ‘Unionist alliance’ will never work in Scotland

When a commentator first referred to the ‘Ulsterisation’ of Scottish politics, he was jumped on by people keen to take offence at the parallel.

But whilst Scotland does not stand on the brink of civil war – and the coiner of the phrase did not claim otherwise – there is no disputing that Northern Ireland offers an insight into what politics looks like when it gets polarised around the constitutional question.

It is not hard to see parallels with the Ulster Unionists, for example, when the Scottish Conservatives put their short-term electoral interests ahead of what’s best for the UK by parroting the SNP’s central election pledge (‘Vote for us to get another referendum’) on their own literature, to such an extent that it is undermining their efforts to criticise the Nationalists for focusing on independence.

But by far the worst artefact of capital-U Unionist politics to have been dragged into the Scottish debate is the idea of a ‘Unionist unity’ pact.